U.S. patent number 4,371,498 [Application Number 06/275,419] was granted by the patent office on 1983-02-01 for coded cuvette for use in testing apparatus.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Medical Laboratory Automation, Inc.. Invention is credited to Richard E. Scordato, Robert J. Varca.
United States Patent |
4,371,498 |
Scordato , et al. |
February 1, 1983 |
Coded cuvette for use in testing apparatus
Abstract
A dual receptacle cuvette adapted for use in a plasma
coagulation testing apparatus which cuvette is coded to enable the
apparatus to determine the particular test procedure to be
performed on the plasma sample in the cuvette receptacles.
Inventors: |
Scordato; Richard E.
(Scarsdale, NY), Varca; Robert J. (Fort Lee, NJ) |
Assignee: |
Medical Laboratory Automation,
Inc. (Mount Vernon, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
23052213 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/275,419 |
Filed: |
June 19, 1981 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
356/246;
422/67 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G01N
21/03 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G01N
21/03 (20060101); G01N 035/00 (); B01L
003/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;422/61,65,67,102
;356/246 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Marcus; Michael S.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Keegan; William P.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A dual cuvette adapted for use in a photometric blood testing
apparatus, said cuvette comprising a pair of spaced apart flat
sided sample receptacles, connecting means for joining the pair of
receptacles to form an integral dual cuvette, said connecting means
having a pair of opposite side walls coplanar with the sidewalls of
said cuvette receptacles and extending from the top edge of said
receptacles downwardly a distance less than the height of a cuvette
receptacle and a bottom wall joining the bottom edges of said
sidewalls, with a cylindrically shaped locating member depending
from said bottom wall and centrally positioned between said pair of
sample receptacles by which the cuvette can be mechanically
positioned and secured in the testing station of the blood testing
apparatus, and machine readable code means being provided on at
least one side wall of the cuvette to enable the testing apparatus
to sense the code and determine the reagent to be added to and the
test to be performed on samples contained in the cuvette
receptacles.
2. A dual cuvette according to claim 1 wherein said code means
comprises the presence or absence of an aperature in the side wall
of said connecting means and the portion of the side walls of the
cuvette receptacles aligned therewith.
3. A dual cuvette according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the receptacles
are substantially transparent and tinted with a color that
corresponds to the machine readable code.
4. A dual cuvette according to claim 1 or 2 wherein identical code
means are provided on opposite side walls of the cuvette, whereby
the cuvette receptacles and coding are symmetrical about a vertical
axis so that one of said code means will be read by a sensing
mechanism regardless of the orientation of the cuvette in the
testing apparatus.
5. A dual cuvette according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the receptacles
are substantially transparent and tinted with a color that
corresponds to the machine readable code, and wherein identical
code means are provided on opposite side walls of the cuvette,
whereby the cuvette is symmetrical and, when placed in the testing
apparatus in either of two orientations, will present one of its
code means to a code sensing mechanism in the testing
apparatus.
6. A dual cuvette according to claim 1 including a rib means
extending outwardly from one cuvette receptacle towards the other
receptacle and from the top edge of said one cuvette receptacle to
the bottom wall of said connecting means, whereby one cuvette
receptacle can be differentiated from the other.
7. A dual cuvette according to claim 1 wherein the bottom wall of
each receptacle is a flat, thin-walled heat transfer surface,
whereby a sample contained in a receptacle can be cooled or heated
by a cooling track or a heating track that supports the cuvette as
it is transported through the testing apparatus.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Containers of many different types and shapes have been provided
for specimens or patient samples that are later mixed with reagents
and analyzed to give an indication of a property or condition of
the test sample. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,772 discloses a
multi-unit cuvette that is useful in analyzing the blood group of a
plasma sample. U.S. Pat. No. 3,607,099 discloses a coagulation
apparatus which determines the prothrombin time of a plasma sample
placed in a single cuvette to which a reagent is added. U.S. Pat.
No. 3,969,079 discloses a cuvette disk having a plurality of sample
receptacles arranged in concentric rows. Two receptacles, one from
each row, will be radially aligned so that two samples may be
analyzed simultaneously. For example, a prothrombin time
measurement may be made on each sample, or an activated partial
thromboplastin measurement may be made on each sample, or a
prothrombin time measurement may be made on one sample while an
activated partial thromboplastin measurement may be made on the
other sample.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a multi-receptacle unitary
cuvette that is especially adapted for use in an apparatus capable
of determining, for example, either prothrombin time or the
activated partial thromboplastin time of a plasma sample. The
apparatus may measure other blood related factors. More
particulary, the invention is directed to a multi-receptacle
cuvette which is coded to be machine readable so as to enable an
appropriate apparatus to perform one analysis or another on the
sample contained in the receptacles. The same analysis or test may
be made on the samples in each receptacle, and, if the samples are
from the same patient, the test results may be averaged to provide
a more accurate determination of the measured factor. Or a
different analysis may be made on each sample in each receptacle of
the cuvette. The analysis performed will be determined by the
cuvette coding.
Thus, the object of the invention is to provide an improved cuvette
for use in a coagulation apparatus.
Another object of the invention is to provide a coded cuvette that
informs the coagulation apparatus of the type test that is to be
performed on the sample therein.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a
multi-receptacle coded cuvette so that a plurality of tests may be
performed sequentially on the samples in each receptacle.
In carrying out the invention, a multi-receptacle cuvette is
provided having two receptacle members separated by a central
connecting member that joins the receptacle members to form a
unitary cuvette. The upper portion of a sidewall of the cuvette is
provided with one or more apertures to form a machine readable code
that determines the test or tests that will be performed on the
fluid samples in the receptacles. The central connecting member of
the cuvette is configured to enable it to be engaged by a movable
member of the testing apparatus so that the cuvette is secured in
an aligned position in the apparatus.
Features and advantages of the invention may be gained from the
foregoing and from the description of a preferred embodiment of the
invention which follows.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the cuvette of the present
invention;
FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the cuvette;
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the cuvette;
FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the cuvette; and
FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration showing various coding
arrangements for coding a cuvette.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to the drawing in general, the cuvette 10 is seen to
comprise a first sample receptacle 11 and a second sample
receptacle 12. Each receptacle preferably has planar walls so as to
minimize distortion when the receptacle is placed in a
photo-optical clot detection apparatus and a beam of light is
projected through a plasma-reagent mixture therein. Moreover, the
bottom wall 13 of each receptacle is made flat and as thin as
practicable so as to enhance heat transfer from and to a fluid
sample placed in the receptacle. For example, a plasma sample,
before being tested and while in the test apparatus will be
maintained at a temperature of about 8.degree. C. to prevent
deterioration of the plasma. When the clotting or other properties
of the plasma are being tested, the plasma temperature will be
raised to the normal blood temperature of 37.degree. C. The present
cuvette is adapted to have the cooling and heating of a plasma
sample therein effected through the bottom wall of the cuvette as
it is moved along a cooled or heated track in the testing
apparatus.
It will also be noted that the depth of a receptacle is several
times the width of the receptacle. In an actual embodiment of the
invention, the width of the receptacle is about 1/4" square and the
depth over 3/4". With the volume of plasma and reagents presently
used in coagulation tests, the test mixture will rise to a
conveniently measurable height of liquid in the cuvette.
The two receptacles 11 and 12 are joined by the cuvette central
section 14 which comprises wall sections 15 and 16. These sections
are, respectively, extensions of and co-planar with sidewalls 17
and 18 and sidewalls 19 and 20 of the receptacles 11 and 12.
Central section 14 also includes a depending cylindrical member 21
which is joined to receptacles 11 and 12 by ribs 22 and 23. Member
21 is provided to be engaged by a locating member of the testing
apparatus in which the cuvette is used to align and secure the
receptacles 11 and 12 in the light paths of a photo-optical clot
detection system.
Looking again at the drawing, it will be observed that cuvette 10
is provided with an aperture 24 at the upper end of sidewall 17 of
receptacle 11. This aperture can be detected by a sensing member in
the testing apparatus and the samples contained in receptacles 11
and 12 tested accordingly. It will be noted that sidewall 20 of
receptacle 12 is provided with an aperture 25 which, in effect, is
a "mirror image" of aperture 24. By coding both sides of cuvette
10, the orientation of the cuvette in the test apparatus is
immaterial. The sensing device of the test apparatus will detect
the identical code regardless of which side of the cuvette is
presented to be sensed. This is very evident from FIG. 5 where it
is clear that if a cuvette is reversed, the code presented to a
sensing device remains the same.
A projection 26 is provided to distinguish receptacle 12 from
receptacle 11. Ordinarily it is not necessary to distinguish one
receptacle from the other since a sample or specimen from one
patient is usually placed in each receptacle of the cuvette.
However, if a sample from one patient is placed in receptacle 11
and a sample from a different patient is placed in receptacle 12 it
would be necessary to distinguish the receptacles so that the test
results could be associated with the proper patient.
FIG. 5 illustrates that with a three station code, a cuvette can be
coded seven different ways. This means that one of seven different
testing procedures can be called for, depending on how a cuvette is
coded. A cuvette having an aperture in each of the three code
stations could not be differentiated from an absent cuvette. Hence
a three aperture code is not used. It is better to have this
condition mean that a cuvette is missing and program the testing
apparatus accordingly. The cuvettes illustrated in FIG. 5 could be
lightly tinted in different colors, each color to correspond to a
particular code and testing procedure. Thus, for example, if the
cuvette that is coded to call for a prothrombin time test on the
samples in both receptacles 11 and 12 is tinted red, the technician
would not have to learn the code for that particular testing
arrangement. Rather, he would simply select a red tinted cuvette
knowing that a red tinted cuvette will be coded to call for a
prothrombin test on the samples in each cuvette receptacle. As a
further example, when an activated partial thromboplastin test is
to be performed on the samples in both cuvette receptacles, that
cuvette may be tinted blue. It is to be noted that cuvettes are
only lightly tinted so as to not materially affect the transparency
of the cuvette, since a light beam is projected through the cuvette
in a photo-optical clot detection system.
Having thus described the invention, it is to be understood that
other embodiments of the invention, differing from the preferred
embodiment described, could be provided without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that
the foregoing specification and drawing be interpreted as
illustrative rather than in a limiting sense.
* * * * *